DECEASED — Children of the Morgue (review)

DECEASED — Children of the Morgue album cover Album · 2024 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Children of the Morgue" is the eleventh full-length studio album by US death/thrash/heavy metal act Deceased. The album was released through Hells Headbangers Records in August 2024. It´s the successor to "Thrash Times at Ridgemont High" from 2021, which was a covers album, and as "Thrash Times at Ridgemont High" was preceded by yet another covers album in "Rotten To The Core Part 2 (The Nightmare Continues)" from 2020, "Children of the Morgue" is actually the first album from Deceased featuring new original material since "Ghostly White" from 2018. There´s been one lineup change as drummer Dave Castillo who performed on "Ghostly White" died in a swimming accident in November 2018 and he has been replaced here by Amos Rifkin.

If you´re familiar with Deceased and just about everything they´ve released since at least "Fearless Undead Machines" (1997) (minus the covers albums), you´ll pretty much know what "Children of the Morgue" sounds like. The death metal influences are very limited (as they have been for years), and stylistically the material on "Children of the Morgue" is an old school thrash/speed metal style with a major traditional heavy metal influence. The rhythm section is pounding and organic, while the two guitarists play one heavy and hard rocking riff after another, and spices the whole thing up with some blistering leads and great harmony themes (both of which are absolutely brilliant). It can´t be said enough how well playing Deceased are and how engaging the instrumental part of their music is. Lead vocalist Kingsley "King" Fowley has a raw voice and a shouting hoarse delivery, which becomes a bit one-dimensional for the duration of a full album, but there´s still something incredibly charming about his storytelling style and his horror story lyrics which always save the day.

"Children of the Morgue" features a professional and for the most part well sounding production, but I do think the drums feature a flat and artificial sound, which doesn´t suit the otherwise organic tone of the remaining instruments and vocals. It´s not a major issue, but I hope they bring back a more organic drum sound on the next album.

When all is said and done, "Children of the Morgue" is yet another high quality release from Deceased. They have a cult following (including myself) which will adore this release as equally much as they´ve appreciated the previous output by the band, but "Children of the Morgue" is probably not the album which will break new ground for Deceased and at this point in their career I´m pretty sure that´s not their main goal either. These guys just want to play the type of metal that they love and occasionally make it available to their fans and they are arguably successful in doing that. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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Nightfly wrote:
61 days ago
I've only heard this one once so far but first impressions were this is as good as any album they've ever done.
UMUR wrote:
61 days ago
Right now, this one sits as number one on my top 2024 list. It can change, but it´s a great album.

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